Introduction
by Athena SFM
Summary: This can't be the night that won't be known to anyone. The night that Gaara first introduced himself to Hinata. GaaHina. Suspense. Mystery. One-shot. Complete.


**A/N:** One of my all time favorite OTP. \*o*/

Started at 12:30 am, finished at 2:30 am. Such a slow person, I am. I can't sleep.

**Announcement:** I need a beta. Preferably someone who loves suspense/angst, crack!fic and adore Hinata-chan. Please. I can only notice a few mistakes in my own fic. PM me, please.

**Disclaimer:** I've been telling people this for a long time, I am Gaara's number one fangirl. Thus, I am entitled to be his wife. Hurhur.

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**_100 Themes Naruto Challenge: #1 Introduction_**

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_"The world was collapsing, and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive."_

_- Rick Riordan, 'The Last Olympian'_

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One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around. One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around. It became my routine since the past two hours. It's an instinct. One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around.

He's getting nearer and nearer and _nearer._

I fell down as my feet has gotten tangled in an upturned large root of a tree. I stoop up, paying no heed to the pain in my knees and ran for more.

My life is on stake. I must not let him get any more closer.

I'm nervous - oh, so dreadfully nervous - as my senses and the eerie stillness of the woods tells me that he's coming. I fear it. I fear the known, his countenance whose every features I know of, and the unknown, the darkness consuming my surrounding, the looming shadow that was threatening my very being, the silence that was screaming. It is maddening. It doubled my fear.

I thought I knew _him._

Don't think that I knew of his plan. I didn't. I was naive, too trusting, shamefully ignorant. I never expected him to be the one to destroy me. He shattered my pride, my self-identity and the heart that ties me down. I thought none of his blank face, his eyes that was _not_ a window to his soul. I thought none of his dark side.

I thought he loved me.

I don't know how far I have gotten, how far my bruised legs have brought me. I can't stop, must not stop, for the sounds of breaking twigs and crunched sounds of dried leaves being stepped on are inching closer. He had let me hear on purpose. I knew he did. Can he hear my heartbeat? Can he? For every sound I hear, my heart beats louder. Out of fear. Out of arid panic. He's cruel. He wanted me to taste despair and it's is gradually getting into me. It is driving me to insanity, pushing me to let go all of what was left of my hope to live. _He_ is slowly killing me.

I need to survive.

I must survive.

One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around.

I am merely moving on reflex and adrenaline. My senses are jarred. They aren't helping me anymore but my will to get farther, to get to a safer place, to make the others know about this night pushes me forward. I need to become a witness to this fateful night. This can't be a night that won't be known to anyone.

I was blinded but I see the shadows of the forest as it bathe in the silver light of the full moon. As it brings light to my path, it also creates shadows, antipodal to the luminescence of the night orb. I was muted but scared gasps, pain-filled moans are coaxed out of me. I hear no sounds but every movement, every step, every breathes he takes make a ringing sound in my ears, feeding my heart its unneeded fear. The air of night firmament is damp, playing as an anaesthesia to the burns in my hands, the bruises of my limbs and scratches scattered all over my body. Fear has sharpened my senses. Pain dulls it. Oh, the irony. I know pain. It was the Elders. I now know fear. It _is_ him.

I can't help but shed tears.

It's been years since we had first met. His alabaster skin, pale green eyes that was a contrast to his vivid red hair and the sound of his voice is still fresh in my mind. He was striking, someone you can't let your eyes off, someone so beautiful. He does not wear his emotions on his sleeves, he does not cower, he does not shy away. He was everything that I am not and everything that I represent. He was from a neighboring village, the Hidden Village of Rocks, a member of the largest clan in their village. He was the second son and was the man betrothed to me, the heiress to the Hyuuga Clan of the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

We had gotten married.

He became Jiai Hyuuga, husband to Hinata Hyuuga.

It was a marriage out of political aim but I fell in love with him. How can I not? He was the only one who listens to me, the only one who appreciates me. He was the one who had truly supported my ideals and my beliefs. He was the one who backed me up when the Council of Elders wanted Hanabi to be married off to a faraway village. We both wanted to let Hanabi find her own happiness, I don't want to take chances that she would love her husband-to-be and vice versa. What I found in Jiai and what we feel towards each other rarely happens in a political marriage.

He was the man who sees me as I am. Not Hyuuga-sama, not Hinata-sama, not the heiress of the proud clan of Konoha. To him I am his wife, Hanabi's older sister and the proud leader of my clan.

The way he caresses me, the way how my name rolls on his tongue, the way he whispers his endearments tells me that he cares for me. When he holds me close at night, I feel that he truly loves me. I felt so happy. I felt so contented.

I had always thought that we were mutually in love.

How wrong I was.

I witnessed it tonight, a year into our marriage.

At the bewitching hour of our first anniversary, he attacked. He painted the walls of the Hyuuga mansion a bloody red hue. No one was able to scream. No one was allowed to. I stirred up when I didn't feel him lying beside me. I woke up when the silent scream of the night echoes in my ears. I woke up because it was unnaturally lull, like the dead of the night is playing a muted music.

I went out and searched for him. I wasn't able to make a sound when the patches of blood greeted me. The stench of the metallic smell of it made my mind go numb. It telltales me of a horrible dream. Off I go. I was running frantic in the hallway, making sounds of hurried footsteps. I don't know when I started moving but I was so scared. So scared of what was happening. I was looking for Father, Neji-niisan, Hanabi and Jiai.

I don't want them to die.

I reached my father's room first. He was dead. Decapitated. I cried in anguish.

I found my Neji-niisan in the adjoining hallway. My cousin that was my older brother. Battered to death. I wailed. This can't be happening. I ran for more. How can I not? At least I want Hanabi and Jiai alive or I die. I want an anchor for living.

My family is my reason of living.

And I found them. Jiai was holding Hanabi, my precious little sister, by her throat. Jiai, the man I love, drenched in the blood of my kin. On his other hand is a katana, bloody red. My mind is spinning. It can't be what I think it is, right? This is a nightmare except that I know I'm not sleeping. He raised the blade and the reflected light of the moon flashed on my eyes. I dashed towards him. I am going to save Hanabi.

I need to.

I don't know how we were able to get away. We ran towards the woods. Hanabi and I. I didn't even looked back at my husband. We ran together. Hanabi and I. We are going to ran far. To safety. Hanabi and I.

Fear has drenched in on my bone.

One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around.

Hanabi stopped running. Why did she stopped? We can't stop running.

One look at her face and I knew. Hanabi, my precious little one, is terrified. Scared. Hanabi, my own sister, is afraid. I must take her to safety.

I have to be the bait. I'm her big sister, right? Older siblings are meant to take care of the little ones, right? If I die, at least, Hanabi lives. Right?

So I made her hide. Hide in a big rock forming a cave. A cave that has no light. Light that could _not_ save her life. Then I ran for more. I wanted him to take the bait.

Which he took.

I heard him closing in on me after running free for what seems to be hours. No matter how far I ran, he's still closing in. Closing in to me and farther to Hanabi.

I thanked whoever God is listening to my pleas.

One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around. One step, two steps. Stop. Breathe. Look around. There he was.

I stumbled down. He was right in front of my face. He was so fast. So fast. I will die. Die.

You won't be able to understand my fear. I am shaking, I can't stop. I am afraid - oh, so afraid - because death itself has presented itself to me. Who is this person? Do you know? Why is Jiai doing this? Do you know? I am not mad, don't think that I am. I am sane. Do you hear my heart beating? I am crying.

I am not mad.

He was looking down on me. Looking down on me with his eyes bearing no emotion. This is not Jiai.

"Hinata." His voice is chilly.

"I am not Jiai." Then, who is this person?

He stilled as he stares down at my face. "I truly loved you." Lies.

"I hated your clan." Why?

"They wanted you out of your own power." Lies.

"They wanted you to disappear." Lies.

"I love you. I can't let them do that." Lies. Lies.

"So I killed them."

"I was doing it for you." No. No. _No_.

For every sentence he says, he takes one step nearer. One step nearer to my demise. I can't stand now. My whole body is no more listening to me.

"Hinata, I am not Jiai." I know. I _now_ know. Do you hear that? Do you hear him?

Who is he?

"Hinata, my name is Gaara." He introduced himself. Finally.

I have heard of the name Gaara before. He was the one who was said to be the mass murderer of an another hidden village, the Hidden Village of the Sand. He is mad. I tell you, he is mad. Is he really the person I married and loved?

How?

Who made these lies?

"I love you, so come to me. I will never hurt you, so come to me."

He offered his hand to me. Should I take it? If I take it, I might live. If I don't, he might kill me.

I am not sure. I did not take it.

Will he kill me or will he spare my life?

Only you can tell the answer.

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Jiai could means two things; one is 自愛 which means "_love for oneself_", the other is 慈愛 which means "_affection_". Both can be read as Jiai and are Gaara's favorite words.

**EDIT 11-20-13:** Corrected some tenses and spelling. Thanks, Darth-Taisha.

...

'sup? I think this story sucks and I am not fishing for compliments. I am dead serious. But I can't sleep since this plot started hopping in my mind while having dinner.

I hate them plot bunnies sometimes.

Anyways, I love you all. Reviews and kisses. ~ :3

For those who read and reviews : **I love you too.**

For those who read and don't review : **Please do, just a little token for the work.**

For those who don't read and yet, make reviews : **WHAT?!**


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